It's all a SCAM!!!!!

At the Risk of sounding like a complete idiot I am about to tell you of something that happened to our family this week.  Hang on to your seats because in a few moments you will be able to unleash all of your thoughts of "What an idiot, even I would have caught that!" out at my post. I would ask you to refrain from judgment but even I know that it's going to come whether I like it or not.  My only hope is that by telling you of our folly and miscalculated decision that you or one of your family members will be spared from doing something as "idiotic" as this.   
Last week we were in the throws of what to do with our tax returns.  Heaven knows that we all do it.  "With taxes we should buy this, or with taxes we should buy that...."  The list grows so long that by the time taxes get here you have forgotten the first needed thing on the list and you end up with a lot of wants.  Don't get me wrong the wants are WAY more fun than the needs but....now what?  This is the second year, no make that the third year in a row that you have forgotten about those needs am I right?! DANG IT!!!   No worries there's always next year...maybe.  Anyway as we pondered and tossed about ideas my husband decided to buy a camp trailer.  Yay!!! Who doesn't want one of those!?  Seriously, there's no hassle of unloading and re-loading ALL of that dreaded camp equipment not to mention our 50lb, -35* rated sleeping bags (all 8 of them). Lugging them up the stairs one at a time.  I have to take them one at a time because the last time I took 2 I pulled a muscle in my back so bad that I had to take Hydrocodone and Ibuprophen.  To any other person that sounds like a great day but I don't do well on that crap!  I lay around like a comatose patient with my eyes wide open, drooling.  When I try to talk all I do is slur, stutter, or hallucinate the someone was just trying to call me on the phone.  I lay there attempting to hand whoever is closest to me the receiver and do my best at signaling them to say answer it.  I can never figure out why they look at me like I have lost my mind.  All this and I still feel the pain.  I thought these were called "Pain Killers"?  Seriously they should be called "Reputation Killers." If anyone besides my family saw me like that I'd be put in a mental institution.  All I know is that when I read the label and it says "Do not operate heavy machinery while taking this medication."  I think holy crap I can't even operate a toaster while on this stuff why in the world would I drive anything that was considered heavy!!!!  So considering my alternative you can see why I was all for this trailer. In my mind I saw days full of the warm beautiful SUN!

 Frolicking through fields of wild flowers with deer bounding around us.  All of this set to its own back ground music! Life would be all flowers and treats with perfect hair and teeth and each child responding with "yes mom,  I will do what you ask.  I love you!"  Oh what a perfect idea for a tax return expenditure!!!  "LET'S DO IT!!!!!" My husband rifles through website after website.  We OOOOO'ed.. and AHWWW'ed over all of the trailers.  We Searched all of the amenities and decided on what we wanted and then like any other person we went to the websites where we would get it "Cheaper."  You saw that coming didn't you.  Of course you did. You've done it too.  We all want that "good" deal.  So in that mind set we searched and looked.  For a couple of days we looked and finally settled upon one that looked too good to be true.  $2000.00 for a trailer that looks new.  Yup that cheap...hence our curiosity.  We began the task of emailing and texting back and forth with the owner information about this trailer and how it will get here and such.  With the first email the seller informed us that they had other offers.  Our anticipation mounts as we are awaited our tax return.  We were nervous that someone would take our "good deal."  2 Days before our tax returns arrived my husband came home from work with the information on how to pay for this trailer through the website that he was emailed.  We were to buy some amazon gift cards and pay through this emailed amazon site and then amazon would ship the trailer to us. We would have 5 days to decide if we wanted it.  If within that 5 days we didn't like it we could ship it back to amazon.   Whoa!!! Amazon is a legit site and these terms seemed awesome. So now we were even more appeased in our endeavor.  Later that night my husband received an email asking him to decide if he was truly interested because they were receiving other offers.  If he was, he needed to begin the paperwork process. We truly were interested so we did start the paperwork but we didn't have the money and told them that we would have to wait.  The email received back caught my attention.  It said that they would wait for us and to make sure to get the money to them as soon as we could.  See if I were selling anything of value such as the trailer during which I had received other offers and one of them couldn't pay and another could then I would sell to the one who could.  It's a no brainer right???... But as I laid in bed that night I couldn't sleep.  I kept thinking that I had to be wrong about this.  I had to be just over thinking this because even though $2000.00 was cheap for a trailer it was a lot for us.  I mulled over the details.  Working with Amazon seems legit, we could keep the trailer for 5 days and try it out, ship it back on their dime if we don't like it, how could this be wrong. But for some reason I couldn't sleep.  The next morning brings anticipation of will the money be in our bank so that "Our trailer" will not be taken.  Alas it isn't there but a new email is with a note asking for the money that day.  We again tell them that it isn't there but we will have to wait.  The reply to our email says "Well just send it when you can.  You were the first to inquire about this so I want you to have first say."  Red flags in my mind fly up all over the place.  We were not the first.  They told us in the beginning that they had other offers.  Now my neurons are firing at rapid pace and all I can think about is how this is probably a scam but my emotions are at war saying no its not, Amazon is involved, it can't be a scam.   I push it aside (I know, I know...yes I'm an idiot!!!).  We wait 2 more days and in that 2 days and nights the thoughts keep returning only to be cast aside like clean laundry.  A mess I know I am going to have to clean up later but for now I just don't want to believe that this is a real problem and I should deal with it right now.  Besides How do I even know that it is a problem?!  All I have is a feeling in my stomach.
 IT'S HERE!!! is the sound I hear from my husband as he calls me from work the next morning.  He takes the day off and we plan how to purchase this trailer.  My husband is like a kid in a candy store.  However I am suddenly very aware at how peaceful I feel inside.  Weird I know, but I truly felt so calm and at peace.  At the time I didn't know why I felt this way but later I understood completely.  Together we go and retrieve the Gift cards and come back home with them in hand ready to make our purchase.  My husband hands me the information that he had printed off.   I read it over and over I and I keep noticing things I hadn't noticed before.  Like the phone numbers for all of the listings such as customer service, technical support, etc. were all the same.  How there wasn't any where on the site to put in the gift card information even though it looked just like Amazon's site; and how it looked as though someone just cut, copied, and pasted information into places on the page.  I suddenly get this thought to call the number.  When the person answered, my brain registered that this person sounded like they were in a basement and they were alone. Amazon is a huge company there should have been background noise.  I was instantly afraid.  So I just hung up.  I sat there for a moment trying to digest all that I was perceiving.  Oddly enough I was still calm despite what I was seeing unfold. My husband however was getting kind of frantic with the thought that we couldn't figure out how to pay this person and that we may lose the trailer.  My husband is not mindless I promise.  Usually he is way more in-tune to these kinds of things than I.  So the fact that I was recognizing this kind of thing for one of the first times in my life was the reason I was questioning myself.  I had a thought cross my mind that I should call the number again and see if the same person answered.  Since Amazon was such a huge company then there should be no way that the same person should answer twice right?.  I dialed the number and just as I had thought the same person answered asking for my information.  Half bewildered and half just surprised that this truly was a real scam happening to us I said out loud to this person.  "There is no way I should have gotten you twice, I am not doing this!" I hung up and immediately searched and found Amazons true customer service number, gave them the order numbers and all the information to which she replied that yes ....

 we were being scammed and that we needed to file it with the FTC (federal trade commission).  She told us that scams like this happen all the time.  These dishonest people ask for gift cards because there isn't any way to track them. Once you give the card numbers to them then the money is gone with no way to get it back.  Neither Amazon, nor the stores will refund the money so once its gone..its gone!  She asked if we had given the person any of the numbers on the cards.  Gratefully I could say no.  She was surprised and stated that we were of a handful of people that thwarted this before losing a lot of money.
 We were very lucky!!!  We couldn't get a refund but we had all of our money, on gift cards for amazon, but we still had it. 
I sat and pondered this moment in our lives.  What a great moment of learning!!! We not only learned how to spot a scam, but we also learned about how the Lord helped us and protected our family.  We ALL have something that we are given as a divine gift from above to help us.  Call it the Spirit, the HolyGhost, the Light of Christ, your conscience or whatever you will, but it is a gift and if you listen you will be guided and protected.  You see that morning I was calm because Heavenly Father knew I needed to be able to "hear" him tell me what to look for, and how to respond.  If I had been stressed or over anxious I would have missed all of the red flags.  Normally I wouldn't think to look at the phone numbers, or all of the fill in the blank spots on the forms.  Nor would I have even noticed that this person sounded like he was in a basement, and I definitely wouldn't have never thought to call again just to see if I did get the same person twice. I wouldn't have remembered that the people told us about them receiving other offers only to change what they said and tell us we were the first. But with the help of the Holy Ghost  ALL of this was shown to me bit by bit while the Lord helped me to stay calm while I acted. All of this he did so that our family would be protected.  We didn't give this person any of our Gift card numbers or any of our personal information so we got Lucky.  Very Lucky!! This could have had such a terrible ending but instead we are sharing this information with you so that you don't make the same mistake.  Please share this with all of your friends and family so that they too will know to watch out for the types of people who wish to steal from you and your family.   Good Luck out there and Buy something fun with your taxes But BE SAFE!!!!!!.  You only live once.

It is likely a scam if:
It looks too good to be true
It is being purchased through a 3rd party (i.e. Amazon or any other types of gift cards to be redeemed by the seller)
If the product information you receive doesn't allow you to input information into their website but you have to call to give them the information instead.
All of this will help you to assess if it is a scam. 

Craigslist gives good advice about how to avoid scams
Avoiding Scams:
Deal locally, face-to-face —follow this one rule and avoid 99% of scam attempts.

• Do not extend payment to anyone you have not met in person.
• Beware offers involving shipping - deal with locals you can meet in person.
• Never wire funds (e.g. Western Union) - anyone who asks you to is a scammer.
• Don't accept cashier/certified checks or money orders - banks cash fakes, then hold you responsible.
• Transactions are between users only, no third party provides a "guarantee".
• Never give out financial info (bank account, social security, paypal account, etc).
• Do not rent or purchase sight-unseen—that amazing "deal" may not exist.
• Refuse background/credit checks until you have met landlord/employer in person.

When meeting someone for the first time, please remember to:

• Insist on a public meeting place like a cafe, bank, or shopping center.
• Do not meet in a secluded place, or invite strangers into your home.
• Be especially careful buying/selling high value items.
• Tell a friend or family member where you're going.
• Take your cell phone along if you have one.
• Consider having a friend accompany you.
• Trust your instincts.
• 
  *Please send me your edge of the miracle story to (edgeofthemiracle@outlook.com). I will preview it and then keep in close contact with you before featuring it in an upcoming blog.  There are people out there that need your strength.  They need the kind of peace only your story can bring.  Even if you don't feel like it is worth a feature, just know that someone out there somewhere is needing to hear how you have overcome and the lessons that you have learned.  You may save their life or quite possibly save many lives. We need your story.